


Crossroads

by byesweetheart (ConstantComment)



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Biker Kenma, Biker Saeko, Country Boy Hinata, Destiny, Love at First Sight, M/M, Motorcycles, Queer Motorcycle Gang, Taking Chances, middle of nowhere
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-04-08 05:31:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,952
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14098296
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstantComment/pseuds/byesweetheart
Summary: The road stretches out like an endless arrow ahead of them, warped and baffling at the horizon when Hinata dares to look up into the sun. Engine music vibrates through his body and wind whips past his ears, sending his hair flying in the corner of his eyes as he holds Kenma’s waist in his hands on the back of his motorcycle, gunning it along the pavement to who knows where. The sun is hot on his back, and he tips his head back toward the sky.





	Crossroads

**Author's Note:**

> Follower Ficlet Fest, Prompt 6: I’m not sure how this happened? My dear beanjournal asked for either KenHina or Saeko/Kiyoko riding motorcycles and... it became 3k of this. ^_^; Only warning is for mild references to homophobia. Additionally, you know how they call all the Karasuno kids country boys? Well, Hinata’s a real country boy. I hope Y’ALL enjoy!!!

The road stretches out like an endless arrow ahead of them, warped and baffling at the horizon when Hinata dares to look up into the sun. Engine music vibrates through his body and wind whips past his ears, sending his hair flying in the corner of his eyes as he holds Kenma’s waist in his hands on the back of his motorcycle, gunning it along the pavement to who knows where. 

The sun is hot on his back, and he tips his head back toward the sky. 

===== 

He’d met Kenma at a bar in a nowhere place like any other, one of those dingy joints set up precariously along the road, surrounded by towering trucks and not much else. The sky had been full of mountains and orange-blue-yellow clouds, which was the only sort of hope Hinata got out of every day. No one ever asked how he got to working at the crossroads; no one asked his name much either. 

But as the sky sank past purple outside the bar's dusty windows, things changed. A blonde woman zipped all the way up in studded leather and studded jewelry had stepped out of the dark and into the trailer where Hinata was wiping down the bar. She looked around and sucked on a cherry-red lollipop with one hand. In her other hand she carelessly held onto the strap of a helmet. A sly grin transformed her heart-shaped face as she looked around the nearly empty bar lit only by a single TV hanging in a corner and beer and cigarette neon signs lining the walls. Hinata's heart sped up when her teeth glinted in his direction. Not because she was beautiful, even if she was, but because her eyes weren't tired, or hungry, or full of judgment or dismissal—just open. 

"Welcome to Crossing's, what can I get ya?" Hinata called as she stepped around the crowded tables headed toward the bar. He wiped his hands on his apron and fumbled for a menu in case she wanted their crappy food along with a crappy drink. 

"Hiya cutie," she said, slinging herself into a rickety bar seat and popping the lollipop out of her mouth. Her sharp brown eyes looked him over, framed by her sharper bangs that cut straight across her forehead, only slightly messed up from wearing her helmet. She looked like one of those sorts that encouraged everyone keep a wide berth back in Hinata's hometown, but she was new and exciting to him. "Need two of everything: your best beer and your best burger. Please and thank you!" 

Hinata raised his eyebrows. "I don't mean to be rude, but everything's made linebacker-size around here so you might wanna just order one and... see how ya feel—" 

The woman laughed and shrugged out of her stiff leather jacket, throwing it onto the nearest stool and rolling her bare shoulders, revealing a whole sleeve of a tattoo on her left arm: the wing of a black bird, feathers sweeping down to her elbow that disappeared around the curve of her shoulder. "I gotta friend comin' in, so he can help," she replied with a laugh. 

Hinata was smiling a little to himself as he poured two pints from the tap when the bell on the door rang with a new customer. Hinata looked up and his heart stuttered to life again. In the doorway stood the handsomest person he'd ever laid eyes on, making his stomach knot so quickly he had to lean on the counter for support. It was a young guy, with a face not so open but not so teasing as his friend's. His eyes looked like a cat's, taking everything in with a calm curiosity, and his hair, long and dyed blonde as well, had been pulled messily into a braid to tame strands blown wild from driving high-speed through the desert. Knocking the door shut with his booted heel, he moved to the bar while unzipping his dusty leather jacket, revealing a soft-looking red shirt beneath, a simple silver pendant of a sun hanging from his slim neck. It glinted in the low pinkish lighting, nestled next to the end of his braid. 

"Kenma, babe," the woman said, grin permanently in place, and Kenma's light-pink lips quirked as he sank into the seat beside her. She reached out and rubbed quickly at Kenma's hair where it faded from deep brown to bright blonde, and he shrugged out from under her teasing with a roll of his eyes. His gaze landed on Hinata when he leaned his arms onto the counter revealing his fingerless gloves, and Hinata nearly dropped both pint glasses when his eyes just couldn't move away. 

Hinata shuffled over, sheepish, and placed the beers in front of them. "Burgers will be out in a minute." 

"Thanks," Kenma said, making Hinata blush with his unflinching gaze, and drank heavily from his beer when his friend started to laugh. "Saeko," he said as he pondered the foam in his beer, "don't make me write your number on the wall in the toilets." 

Hinata bit his lip and busied himself with cleaning up the seat of a trucker who'd left without tipping, but Saeko was not chastened at all. In fact, it was like she'd been egged on. Hinata saw from the corner of his eye when she dipped her fingers in her beer and flicked them at Kenma, and then leaned further on the counter trying to make eye contact with Hinata. 

"Hey, cutie, what's your name?" 

Hinata looked up from his stacked plates. "Me?" 

Kenma's mouth twitched again. "Yeah, she means you," he said. He glanced around the bar and spotted another old guy in a cowboy hat, mustachioed and round-bellied and missing a tooth. "Definitely you," Kenma added, eyebrow quirked. 

"I'm—I'm Hinata, nice to meet y'all!" 

With that he ran through the kitchen doors. 

He had to come back to serve them dinner, though. Slipping their plates piled high with burger and fries into place in front of them, he squeaked out, "Ketchup? Mustard? Anything else I can get ya?" 

"Mayo!" Saeko chirped, "Kenma, you need anything from cutie Hinata?" 

Kenma looked at her, shoved a couple fries in his mouth, before turning to Hinata like she hadn't said anything. "Hot sauce?" He had a bit of salt stuck to his lip. 

When Hinata returned with the tabasco, Saeko was chewing a huge mouthful of food, but that didn't stop her. "Hinata, you from around here originally?" 

Hinata brushed his hair back. "Yeah. But off the record, I'm saving up to get out as soon as I can. I wanna see more of the world, like y’all—I mean, I bet you see all sorts of stuff. You're not... from around here, right?" 

Saeko shook her head. "We were in the mountains yesterday and we're headed to the beach next after we pick up my girlfriend in the next city over." She seemed completely unconcerned saying that so proud, but Kenma looked less convinced. He took a bite of his burger, watching Hinata’s wide eyes at hearing ‘girlfriend’ said so plainly. But, when Hinata only blushed harder and darted his eyes to the other customers at the other ends of the room, fingers knotting together on the countertop in front of them, he relaxed. Maybe he’d seen all he needed to. 

Was Hinata so obvious? 

“Must be hard not being able to travel with your girl—girlfriend,” Hinata tried quietly. 

“It is. Think… supermodel in combat boots, right Kenma?” she said with a devilish smile. Kenma snorted. “She’s like the best thing since sliced bread—dark hair and big eyes and the _best_ ass.” 

Hinata squeaked in laughter. 

“Kiyoko’s a teacher. Smartest chick alive— _anyway_ —yeah, it’s hard to leave her back there, but now it’s summer we got two months together.” Saeko smiled and Hinata could see how much brighter it was now she was talking about the person she cared about. 

Hinata felt the question bubble up into his chest. It could be nothing to just _ask_ Kenma: _You got a sweetheart, too? Is your supermodel girlfriend waiting at the beach?_

In another life, he could be smooth like that. But that life wasn’t this one. 

“Is there a—uhm, is there anyone you’re picking up for your trip?” Hinata stuttered out, barely catching Kenma’s eyes before his nerves got the best of him. He grabbed a dishrag and twisted it in his hands, putting it back after he realized he was fussing. 

“I’m undecided,” Kenma replied, smiling a little into his beer as Saeko’s eyes went wide and she burst out laughing. 

Heartbeat hammering in his ears, Hinata tucked his hair a behind his ear and wished he could look at Kenma for more than two seconds. 

“This is our... fifth trip? 'Cross country,” Saeko said eventually, wiping her hands with a paper napkin. "So to answer your question, home’s where the heart is n’ all that mumbo jumbo.” 

"We're from nowhere," Kenma clarified, sly. 

"No!" Hinata insisted. " _I'm_ from nowhere. You—you're from, like, everywhere." 

Kenma smiled. "Where would you go if you could go anywhere?" 

Hinata pressed a hand to his cheek. "Well, I mean, the beach sounds real nice right now," he rushed out, plowing through the embarrassment of that near-confession. "But, I'd wanna... I wanna see both sides of the country. And see stuff in museums? Or ride a rollercoaster. Also see a _good_ concert without seeing a pair of cowboy boots," he laughed. "Man, I wanna swim in the ocean! Hear a different language. And meet new people. And…" he trailed off, noticing Kenma had stopped eating, leaning on his arm and watching Hinata closely. "Sorry. I've just never left this town." 

"This is a town?" Saeko joked, but her voice was kind. 

"Well, a town _ship,_ " Hinata replied, and smiled wide when Kenma huffed out a laugh. 

“You’re thinkin’ too small, cutie,” Saeko added as she crunched on an oily French fry. Kenma watched Hinata with an expression he couldn’t quite figure out, but then nodded when Saeko looked his way. Hinata felt caught by his gaze, by the small curve of a smile that tilted just enough past mysterious toward kind while he idly returned to his food, even when Saeko continued, “I think you’re meant to see the world.” 

With that, Hinata looked down, heart clenched. “I — I can’t think that big. I’ll be too disappointed if I never get out.” 

“What’s stopping you?” Kenma asked simply. “Who’s saying you’ll never get out?” 

“Nobody,” Hinata said after a pause. “I just—don’t know when I’ll ever get the chance.” 

Saeko chewed loudly around the last bite of her burger, but Kenma didn’t look at her, he looked at Hinata. 

And Hinata took a deep breath. “Nobody’s ever asked me any of that, actually.” 

Kenma tilted his head, leaned a little forward with a slight smile in his eyes. “Anyone ever asked you to leave with ‘em?” 

“I—I, uhm…” Just then, another customer waved their hand at him in the booth near the door, looking none too patient. “I gotta—I’ll be right back!” 

He didn’t come right back. There was a flurry of patrons who stormed in right after, and he found himself too busy to do much but give the two friendly strangers at his bar a smile and a sorry shrug when he was able to come back to grab drinks or silverware. 

He did pour them free coffee, as the bar counter filled and they grabbed their wallets to pay, but only met Kenma’s eyes once more as he stood slowly and gave Hinata a final smile. Hinata licked his lips and tried not to read disappointment in the guy’s eyes—this _stranger’s_ eyes—as he turned and followed Saeko out. 

He’d never see them again, surely. 

He didn’t know them at all, but he was somehow... more than sad to see them go.

Hinata had just mustered up the strength to pretend this night was just like any other, by the time he was closing out the bar and grabbing his backpack from the back. His backpack even had all his savings and important things in it, in the hopes of a night like tonight, but he’d blown it—when a kind stranger, a beautiful, quiet kind stranger as good as asked him to drive to the ends of the earth with him, Hinata had choked. 

The thought of it hit hard as the bar door slammed shut behind him and he trudged down the wooden steps to the nearly deserted parking lot. He wondered if his rickety pick-up would start tonight, the worthless piece of junk. 

He was walking toward his truck at the edge of the parking lot, desert dark and lonely around him when he saw a figure out by the edge of the road, leaning on a motorcycle, blonde head haloed by a lone streetlamp sprouting from the dusty earth. Hinata stopped in his tracks, and the figure reached out and waved. 

Hinata’s feet moved before he’d even thought about walking toward him. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Kenma said when Hinata stepped into the beam of the streetlamp, voice still quiet. It made Hinata think of soft cotton and firesides. He straddled his bike, one of those big, sleek and old-fashioned ones like in an old movie, and his legs stretched out long under the denim tucked into his shiny leather boots. “I don’t mean to be a creep, I just wanted you to have time to give your answer.” 

Hinata gulped, his heart sped up again, his face heated, and even though he was sure Kenma couldn’t see it in the dark he was sure Kenma knew exactly what his face looked like anyway. Kenma had that feeling, like he’d known Hinata the moment he saw him. 

“Saeko went on ahead, but I guess I was hoping you were itching to get out of here as much as I was itching to get to know you more,” he said earnestly. “I’m not much for words, but I hope that’s not… too surprising.” 

“I—” Hinata’s breath hitched. “A-are you for real? You want a stranger to just hop on your bike?” 

“You’re not so strange,” Kenma replied with a tilt of his head. “Not the strangest thing I’ve ever seen, anyway.” 

Hinata ran a hand through his hair, bounced a little on his heels. “Well, you’re the strangest thing _I’ve_ ever seen,” Hinata said. 

Kenma huffed out a laugh. 

“I like it, though,” Hinata added, hushed. “I like you—I don’t know how? I just—” He moved forward until he could reach out and touch the handle of his motorcycle, head bowed as his fingers edged close to Kenma’s knuckles wrapped around the handle. 

“I don’t expect… anything, okay?” Kenma added, soft, when Hinata’s fingers met the fabric of his gloves, when he traced over the surprisingly strong fingers, noticing a tattoo of a bird along the inside his ring finger. He stepped closer. 

“W-what if I’d give it to you anyway?” Hinata said, and he looked into Kenma’s eyes. 

A hand came to rest at his waist, the other turning over and squeezing Hinata’s hand on the handle, before he turned and grabbed the helmet strapped to the back of his bike. He smiled, reaching out and placing it on Hinata’s head, before pulling him closer, pressing a kiss to his cheek. 

“We’ll play it by ear,” Kenma said, hair tickling Hinata’s chin. 

The air was cool on his cheeks when they turned along the dark highway, but he was warmed by the leather jacket he wore on his back, and by the warm waist he clung to, and as they sped faster and faster into the night Hinata felt the world open up before him. 

===== 

They slow to a stop on a deserted cliffside, no cars in sight and a whole stretching landscape below them. Kenma's hand rests on Hinata's thigh as he shuts off the engine and waits for him to dismount. 

Fingers catch on his wrist, so Hinata looks behind him with a smile. Kenma's windblown face is lit by the rosy sun to their left. Kenma tips his sunglasses up to rest on his head and pulls his sunbleached hair from his eyes, curious and warm and happy even when he’s seems quiet to everyone else. It’s his turn to wrap arms around Hinata’s waist, and he tucks his hands under Hinata’s jacket to get at his skin. Hinata laughs, turns his head and tilts it for a kiss, always thirsty in this heat. Kenma squeezes him and licks into his mouth, bites, sucks, tender. Hinata’s glad he isn’t driving today, because it all makes him dizzy, loving someone so quiet but so steady. 

Kenma’s fingers reach up and tug on the sun pendant resting against Hinata’s chest beneath his unzipped jacket, and Hinata bites his lip around a smile. 

Saeko and Kiyoko pull up beside them. Kiyoko’s hair flies around her as she pulls her helmet off, winking at Hinata in that sweet way she does, and Saeko pulls her sunglasses off right after, eyes bright as she looks out at the horizon. Hinata’s eyes follow hers and go wide as he takes it all in: the rolling red hills and blue-grey plants and the birds flying high overhead in the endless sky. Beyond that, he can see the orange earth end and the deep, lush green of trees begin, swerving around a snaking river—a new part of the world to explore. 

Fingers lace into his, squeeze them briefly. It never gets old.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! <3
> 
> Beanjournal's beautiful art of this fic can be found [here](https://twitter.com/beanjournal/status/971259005405466624) and [here](https://beanjournal.tumblr.com/post/171713701624/beanjournal-a-kenhina-high-desert-smooch-from) !
> 
> Come say hi on [Tumblr](http://byesweetheart.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/byesweetheart_)!


End file.
